Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Another Visit to The Local Fair

An annual highlight of September for the whole family (even though this is just our second year) and one that simply can't be missed, is the "Feria" - the local fair that comes to town once a year, jam packed with entertainment ranging from old carnival rides that have been deemed unsafe and have been retired from Europe decades ago, to the simpler pleasures of old-fashioned darts-&-balloons type games. And so much more!

Just look at all the fantastic prizes to be had!

And we had a day of gorgeous weather, and the setting was beautiful...

One of Will's big-time favorites is the inflated ball in the pool. This years' version was significantly upgraded, with inflated pool walls (as opposed to old rusty metal walls last year) and a bigger, newer, cleaner ball. Still need to inflate it with the leaf blower, though...

...which is tough on the ears...

...but well worth the pain.

Will's pal Mason got vertical on this one!

It can't be easy to stand up in those things, especially when the oxygen starts running dangerously low.

Time to drag him out...

And there's plenty of entertainment and fun for the adults, too, especially given the fact that the environment is super-safe and kid friendly, so after handing them a fistful of pesos and watching them run off into the crowd, we head to the beer tent for a gigantic michelada (a refreshing combination of beer, lime juice, tomato juice, hot sauce, worstershire sauce, and a few other secret ingredients - call it a beer-based bloody Maria).

Sam and Pablo enjoying a Michelada

And what makes more sense, after pounding 22 ounces of beer and hot-sauce, than getting on the mechanical bull??? Pablo did OK, actually. He managed to hold the Michelada in:

And with such big and cheap refreshments, you should probably spend the 10 pesos on this:

Bargain of the day: 75¢ wristband gets you all-day, unlimited access to the loo

And speaking of refreshments, the cornucopia of snack options at a good Mexican fair just can't be beat. You not only have the usual suspects imported from up north (pop corn, hot dogs & hamburgers, cotton candy, etc.), but there's an endless array of the good stuff: all types of tacos, gorditas, sopes, tortas, soups... You name it. And it's GOOD. And if you haven't filled up completely, there are plenty of little snack stands, too, such as this one:

And this stand comes with the added bonus, as you can see in the close-up below, of stocking some additional items you might need while browsing the fair:

I see cans of marinated jalapeños, a jar of hot sauce, a liter of milk, a can of coffee, a bottle of Clorox bleach, some laundry soap and fabric softener, pine-sol floor cleaner, and what appears to be a bag of the Mexican version of Rice-a-Roni. One stop shopping!

Will's big favorite this year was the "Euro-Bungie" contraption, best described as a human slingshot of sorts with a safety harness. We blew through some serious pesos on this baby and got every centavo worth of fun!

Will loved it so much, he blew out one of the rubber bungie bands:

But no biggie, a quick replacement fix and he was back at it:

And while Will is distracted by the latest thrill ride, Alya heads straight for the good stuff:

She certainly enjoyed the cotton candy, but no doubt Alya's highlight of the day was the purchase of "Scrummy" (short for "Scrumptious"), her new hamster, that set us back all of 30 pesos (that's about $2.30) . Well, they told us it was a hamster, and it looked like one, so we took it home. With a friend, of course (we couldn't just get one, right?). More on the hamsters in a future blog. It did not turn out quite as planned, but on this day, she was all smiles:

And she and Janan also had a great time on the bumper cars. Good old-fashioned fun!

I was just mildly concerned that, as I was standing at the edge taking pictures, I might accidentally brace myself by reaching up and grabbing onto the metal ceiling, which was at about 6.5 feet in height and fully juiced with 210 volts. With my body now containing at least an additional 10% more water content than the normal 75%, and standing on a steel platform, I could almost feel the rarified air around me crackling with electricity. I managed to keep my hands down.

Doesn't that ceiling look a bit low?

As usual, a good time was had by all!

We're already looking forward to the Feria coming back next year,

but I can guarantee you, there will be no more hamsters. More on that subject in a future blog...